ACT: BUSH ADMINISTRATION BLOCKING 2002 FUNDS TO HELP FARM FAMILIES SAVE FARMLAND AND CONSERVE WETLANDS -- CALLS URGENTLY NEEDED!!! The Bush Administration and the Office of Management and Budget are refusing to allow the money, that the President and Congress approved for 2002, to be spent to protect farmland and conserve wetlands. The recently passed Farm Bill, signed by the President in May, committed increased funds for conservation programs, including the Farmland Protection Program and the Wetlands Reserve Program. By blocking funding for the Natural Resources Conservation Service to provide the technical assistance necessary to enroll farmland and wetlands in the conservation programs, the Administration is preventing the increased conservation funding for 2002 from being spent for those purposes. Farmers are waiting in line to place over 700,000 acres of farmland and wetlands into these programs, and safeguard them from sprawl development. If the funds that Congress allocated for 2002 are not spent by September 30, 2002 they will be forfeited. Calls are urgently needed to President Bush and to Mitch Daniels at OMB demanding that they not allow these critically needed conservation funds to be squandered. * Call President Bush at 202-456-1414 * Call Mitch Daniels, Office of Management and Budget, at 202-395-4840 and leave the following message: I urge you to release the funding to the USDA for technical assistance that President Bush promised in the farm bill for fiscal year 2002 in support of the Farmland Protection Program and the Wetland Reserve Program. This funding is critical to the implementation of these programs. For more information, call Robin Mann, 610-527-4598. Erin Jordahl Director, Iowa Chapter Sierra Club 3839 Merle Hay Road, Suite 280 Des Moines, IA 50310 515-277-8868 [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask]